Production of wheels



A. S. HYDE PRODUCTION OF WHEELS July 8, 1924.

2 Sheets-Sheet Filed June 21 1920 I'NVENTOR O HFTHURS. HYDE July 8, 1924. 1500,496

A. S. HYDE PRODUCTION OF WHEELS Filed Juh 21, 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Illi INVENTOR W ZRTHUI? 5. HYDE ATTORNEY scribed in detail The i July 8,;T924.

' THUR S. E, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR '10 BAUSH MACHINE TOOLCOMPANY, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

PRODUCTION OF Application filed anneal, 1920. Serial no. 390,404.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known thatI, ARTHUR S. HYDE, a

citizen of the United States, and resident of Hartford, Conn.,'andwh'ose post-oflice address is 0/0 Baush Machine Tool Company,Springfield, Massachusetts, have invented certam new and usefulImprovements in the Production of Wheels, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention provides a wheel, especially designed for automobiles andother vehicles, of a new material and structure, and a method ofproducing the same. For many. years aluminum and alloys thereof have.been used to a greater or less extent, but no such alloy has beenthought to be adapted for use in the making of wheels, having thenecessary physical qualities to make a wheel which should be strong anddurable against the compression and the lateral strains and shocks towhich it is subjected and which could also be cast or forged andmachined with the perfection reuired for good wheels and especially fort e best automobile wheels.v

I. have found that there are certainv alloys of aluminum which byappropriate methods of manufacture or manipulation and treatment can bemade into wheels which will have'the strength and reliability of thebest or wooden wheelsheretofore made with greater durability goodcondition and andreliability' is of the first importance and lightnessis highly desired. A speods of manipulation which I prefer is thefollowing;

An alloy is used .consistm of alummum This alloy is cast 1n appropriateingots or blanks and then forged mto the shapes desired as hereinafterdeiorging or otherwise of the metal incre' its tensile stren as, forexample, from 27 ,000 Penn s per square inch to 36,000 or as high as40,000pounds. j I The forgedparts are then heatedfio a temperatureapproximatin 500 to 525 decentigrade and queue ed. It 1s found at thistreatment inc the physiworkin the balance cal qualities verysubstantially. For example, an alloy having beforehand an ultlmatetensile strength of 36,000 pounds per square inch will have its strengthincreased to 55,000 or 60,000 pounds. The elastic limit will be raisedfrom 25,000 to 36,000 pounds per square inch, the elongation from 2 to20% and the reduction under strain from 4 to 40%. The quality shown bythese tensile tests is particularly valuable in enabling the wheel toresist the sudden and powerful lateral strains to which it is sometimesSub ected in use. By this method there is produced a metal havingapproximatelythe strength of steel andthe resistance to cor-57 metal fora period 0 one to' five days in 75,

order to bring it to the desired physical characteristics. The aging ofthe metal after the heat treatment serves also to bring it to acondition. in which it machines or cuts better than before. may be donebefore. the aging is complete, but it can be done better afiterwards.

There are considerable variations P08? s1ble in the composition of thealuminum The machining alloy and in the proportions of the com- 35ponents. The important thing is to use such an alloy as willsbe capableof transformation by heat treatment into a metal of-comparatively highstrength and elastic limit, though it consists chiefly of aluminum whichgenerally lacks these qualities, and though i it weighs little more thanaluminum. cificexample of the composition and meth- The aluminum alloysabove referred and the heat treatment thereof have been known for anumber of years, examples of the same being described in Wilm Patents-No. 1,130,785 filed in 1911 and 1,261,987 filed in 1912. They have notbeen used however for wheels or the like although thisperiod .has seennumerous-efiorts to improve on Y the old wooden wheel particularly bythe substitution of various unitaryand built up constructions of steel;which are comparatively hea and subject to rapid corrosion when not aequately protected.

I have discovered that wheels, both unitary and built up, may so made ofthe aforesaid aluminum alloy and will have not only the e ectedlightness but also a. quite unexp resistance to bending and I m ingthrough a flanfie a durability beyond that of the previously knownwheels of wood or steel. The heat treated alloy was found to be capableof machining to make-a wheel of 6 perfect shape and balance asrequiredfor good practice.

A The best results have been gotten w1th an extensive working of thealloy in making the blank, and the alloy referred to lends itselfexcellently to such operations. For example, in the makin of thespokesof the wheel herein describe I have rolled and forged the metal down toone-third or onefourth of its original cross-section and this produced adense, tough, fibrous structure excellently adapted for the designed useand well capable of being readily machined by ordinary steel cutterswhich could not possibly be used on hardened steel.

The accompanying drawings. illustrate different embodiments of myinvention.

. Fi 1 is a radial section on the line 11 Fig. 2 is a section on the lme2. 2 of Fig. 3 is a radial section of another style; Fi 4 is a detail onthe line 44 of Fig. 3 omltting the wheel rim;

Figs. 5 and 6 are radial sections of other styles.

In Figs. 1 and 2 the wheel is built up somewhat in the manner of anordinary Wooden wheel, the parts however being made of the describedaluminum alloy. The spokes 1 of aluminum alloy are separate and aredriven or otherwise fastened in the central ring 2 of the same materialwhich in turn is fastenedto the hub 3, of steel (as shown) or ofaluminum alloy, by means of bolts 4 pass- 5 and attaching also the brakedrum 6. e spokes at their outer ends are formed with flanges 7- whichare riveted to the inner face of the rims which is shown of aluminumalloy with a separate steel flange9 but which can also be made entirelyof alloy if desired. I The. advanta e in this construction lies in thefact that t e spokes, which carry the greatest strain, can be separatelyforged, with a considerable increase instrength over cast metal. Thecentral ring 2, the hub 3 and the rim 8 are also separate ieces whichcan be forged with a correspon ing increase in strength. And all thearts can be easily machined to an accurate t to each other. I

This wheel is shown arranged to come ofi in its entirety from the hub 3by withdrawing the bolts 4. Or it can be ermanently fastened to the hub,using a emountable rim. The-spokes may be of any desired .shape incross-section, suchas the common round or oval shapes. And they might befastened permanently in the hub 3 or m the demountable hub or ring 2.

be ormed in a variety :1?hey may in fact of ways, though the separate.construction illustrated is preferred where spokes are to be used.

In Figs. 3 and 4 the intermediate part of the wheel, that is the partbetween the hub and the rim, is made of two plates or discs 10, 11 ofthe aluminum alloy described. They are fastened to the steel hub 12 bymeans of bolts 13 passing through the plates and through flanges or earson the hub and through the brake drum 6. The platev 10 is flat, bearingagainst the face of the brake drum, and has an offset flange 14 at itsouter edge. The plate 11 is conical so as toiprovide for a rim ofgreater width than the hub and has on its outer edge a flange 15 (Fig.4) extending to the flange 14 of the plate 10 and constituting thebearing portion of the inner rim. The flange 15 is bent to form grooves16 at intervals and the flange 14 is shaped :with sockets 17 engagingthe ends of the grooved portions 16. A demountable rim 18 is fastened onthe inner rim by engagement atone side with the flange 14 and at theopposite side with a ring 19 which is held in place by means of bolts 20passing at intervals through the grooved portions 16 and registeringopenings in the' flan 14.. This wheel is made of arts which can beforged or pressed into s ape and thus secures the superior strength dueto this method of treatment.

Fig. 5 shows a wheel of which-the rim 21 and conical web 22 areintegral, constituting practically a one-piece wheel. The web is formedwith a thickened portion or ring 23 at the center which is fastened bymeans of bolts 24 to the steel. hub 12 and brake drum 6. One of theflanges 25 of the rim is separately cast in a groove in the rim proper21. This flange 25 is indicated of aluminum alloy in Fig. 5 and of steelin Fig. 1. Either metal may be used. 7

Fig. 6 illustrates a design similar to Fig. 3 in that it uses two webswhich are separate and adapted to be forged or pressed into shape. Thewebs 26 and 27 are spread apart at their center ed es so as to betterwithstand bending stralnswhich are greatest to- 'demountable rimcomprising a central portion 31 with an integra flange 32 at one side,and a flange 33 at the opposite side cast in a groove near thee of thepart 31. The flange 33 may be 0 steel as indicated .or it may be also ofaluminum alloy. The deange 30, these parts 'constitutmountable rim isfastened as usual by means of a ring 19 held in place by bolts 20passing through the fiat portions of the webs.

The demountable rims add considerable weight to automobile wheels andfor this reason I prefer to make them also of the aluminum alloy; thoughit will be understood that the Wheel itself of this'alloy isparticularly useful with permanent rims or even with demountable rims ofsteel or part-- .ly of steel and partly of the alloy as illustrated. Aseparate application for patent is made for such demountable rims andthey are not claimed in the present application except in combinationwith the wheel proper. A sepaarte application for Patent, No. 701,648,is made also for the construction of Figs. 1 and 2, in so far as it isdistinguished from the other constructions herein described and to whichthe more specific claims herein are restricted. The combination isparticularly useful because I have observed that the friction betweenthe inner rim and the demountable rim where both are of this material isnot noticeably greater than where they are of different materials; whichis not true of most other materials. Generally the friction between twoarts of the same material is greater than etween two parts of differentmaterials.

Though I have described with great particularity of detail certain secific embodiments 'of the invention, yet it 1s not to be un' used withmy invention and various modifications may be adopted without departingfrom the invention as defined in the followlowing claims.

What I claim is:

'1. A vehicle wheel having the supporting portion between the hub. andthe rim made of an aluminum alloy of the class describedconsistingmainlyof aluminum and which has been worked and heat treated to increaseits density, tensile strength and elastic limit.

2. A vehicle wheel having the supporting portion between the hub and therim made of an aluminum alloy of the class described consisting mainlyof aluminum, and a rim made in one piece with said supporting portionand which has been worked and heat treated to increase its density,tensile strength and elastic limit.

3. In the production of the supporting portion between the hub and therim of vehicle wheels, the method which consists in making the same ofan aluminum alloy of the class described and heat treating and forgingor working the same to increase its density, tensile strength andelastic limit.

4. In the production of the rim and the supporting portion between rimand hub of a vehicle wheel, the method which consists in making the twoparts in a single integralpiece of an aluminum alloy of the classdescribed and heat treating and forging or working the same to increaseits density, tensile strength and elastic limit.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto signed my name.

ARTHUR S. HYDE.-

